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7th-grader recalled as bubbly and active
BY JENA JANOVY
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
GURLEY, Neb. - A 12-year-old Dalton, Neb., girl who died over the weekend from head injuries suffered at track practice is being remembered as a beautiful, energetic seventh-grader who loved to sing, play the clarinet, compete on her school's quiz bowl team and play sports.
Meagan Wiedeman, who attended Leyton Junior High in Gurley, died Saturday after being injured March 24 while attempting the high jump at an indoor track practice at her junior high school. She missed the mat and hit her head.
"She was involved in about everything," said Leyton Schools Superintendent Bill Pile. "She was active in youth groups. She was a bouncy, bubbly young lady, an awesome kid."
Meagan's father, Dave Wiedeman, is the boys basketball coach and the boys track coach at Class D-1 Leyton High School in Dalton. He was at the high school when the accident happened. He said his daughter was responsive when the Gurley rescue squad arrived within two minutes of the accident.
"She was taken to Sidney within a matter of about 25 or 30 minutes from the accident," he said. "The response was just fabulous. They did all they could to get her there and give her a chance. It was just a tragic accident."
Wiedeman said Meagan was responsive during the first 24 hours, and even spoke to her parents and showed signs that she wasn't hurt that badly. But early Wednesday, she underwent surgery to relieve the swelling and pressure on her brain.
"The swelling got so severe," he said. "After the surgery, she really showed not too much response. It just got worse and worse after that."
Because Meagan was brain-dead, Wiedeman said, the family decided to donate her organs.
"She is living in five other people, we hope," Wiedeman said. "We're hoping to heighten donor awareness and to tell everyone we know that she's in a better place. But it's pretty hard to let go."
Services are scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday at her family's church, Gering Zion Church in Gering, Neb.
"Our friends and family and the people from the community have been just fantastic," Wiedeman said. "We didn't know we had so many people who cared. And the people who prayed for us and our daughter . . . there were prayer chains all over."
Meagan, who also played volleyball, basketball, soccer and softball, would have turned 13 on May 6.
Her death occurred three years to the day after a Gering High School pole vaulter died from hitting his head. Nathan Dean, then a senior at Gering High School, died March 29, 2000, after suffering a head injury while practicing the pole vault. He bounced off the side of the pole-vault pit and hit his head twice on the asphalt slab beyond the pit.
Between 1983 and 2001, there were 15 fatal pole-vaulting injuries in high schools nationwide, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Statistics were not available for junior high fatalities related to the high jump.
The Nebraska School Activities Association, which governs students' participation in grades nine through 12, does not oversee junior high schools or keep records of injuries involving junior high students. The NSAA's catastrophic insurance policy also does not cover non-NSAA schools, including Leyton Junior High.
"You always hate to see a kid injured, and when it's a catastrophic injury it's terribly regrettable," said NSAA Executive Director Jim Tenopir. "Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with them."
In addition to her father, Meagan is survived by her mother, Sherri; her brother, John; and grandparents Ed and Betty Wiedeman of Gering and Bob and Joann Skanadore of Gordon, Neb.
